Scottish Executive

Better Neighbourhood Services Fund

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the formula to be used to distribute the Better Neighbourhoods Services Fund.

Angus MacKay: Allocations from the Better Neighbourhoods Services Fund were announced on 15 January 2001. They were made on the basis of proportions of income support recipients in the population of local authority areas.

  Glasgow City Council, which has the highest proportion and also the largest number of claimants, will receive additional resources of £6.00/9.00/12.00 million over the coming three-year period to run three pathfinder projects. Other authorities with more than 12% IS claimants will receive £2.00/3.00/4.00 million each, authorities with between 10-12% £1.50/2.25/3.00 million and those between the average and 10% £1.00/1.50/2.00 million. Each of these authorities is expected to run one pathfinder.

  To ensure that the lessons learnt from the pathfinders can be rolled out across Scotland, a further three rural authorities—those with the highest proportion of IS recipients of those authorities with a high level of population dispersal—have also been selected to operate pathfinders. These three authorities will run five smaller scale pathfinders at £0.30/0.45./0.60 million each, in view of the smaller scale of deprivation in their areas. Argyll & Bute will operate two pathfinders, Dumfries & Galloway two pathfinders and Eilean Siar one pathfinder.

Cancer

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the median waiting time is from the inpatient and day case waiting lists for cancer surgery and what the equivalent figures were for each of the last ten years broken down by health board.

Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-12417 on 30 March 2001.

Central Heating

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to review its position on support to pensioners with partial or old central heating systems.

Jackie Baillie: We have no present plans to review the position. Providing support in the way proposed would divert resources away from those who currently have no central heating at all.

Central Heating

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which groups are being prioritised in the implementation of its central heating programme.

Jackie Baillie: The Central Heating Programme is targeted at 40,000 pensioners in the private sector and 101,000 tenants in the public sector.

  In the private sector priority will be given to those over 75 years of age, the elderly living alone and the disabled and the long-term ill.

  Local authorities and housing associations will also be expected to build priority groups into the programme for their tenants. However, as their part of the programme affects other vulnerable groups, such as families with young children, priority should not just be restricted to those same groups for the private sector. Priority will be for each public sector landlord to determine and should be structured in accordance with the varying needs of their tenants.

Dental Care

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13850 by Susan Deacon on 16 March 2001, when the review of NHS dental access in remote and rural areas was initiated.

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13850 by Susan Deacon on 16 March 2001, who is reviewing problems of NHS dental access in remote and rural areas.

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13850 by Susan Deacon on 16 March 2001, when the review of NHS dental access in remote and rural areas is expected to conclude.

Susan Deacon: Problems of access to NHS dentistry within all areas of Scotland, including remote and rural areas, are kept under review by the Executive on a continuous basis and is one of the areas being looked at by the Implementation Support Group for the Action Plan for Dental Services in Scotland. There are no start and finish dates for reviewing dental access problems in rural areas.

Dental Care

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13850 by Susan Deacon on 16 March 2001, which organisations are being consulted as part of the review of NHS dental access in remote and rural areas.

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13850 by Susan Deacon on 16 March 2001, whether in the review of NHS dental access in remote and rural areas the views of people who live in such areas will be sought.

Susan Deacon: The problems of dental access in rural and remote areas have been well documented and are well understood. Where future proposals are developed to improve the situation, account will be taken of the many comments and views already put forward. Since any proposals of this type will relate to activity by dentists, views will be sought from the British Dental Association in Scotland.

Dental Care

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will respond to the findings of the recent publication A Scottish Survey of General and Community Dental Practitioners published by the University of Aberdeen Toothousand Project.

Susan Deacon: The discussion document Workforce Planning for Dentistry in Scotland - A Strategic Review , which was published in October 2000, detailed a number of areas for review by the Scottish Advisory Committee on the Dental Workforce (SACDW). The findings of the Toothousand Project will be considered by the SACDW and its subgroups as part of this ongoing work, once the Scottish Survey of General and Community Dental Practitioners report has been officially published.

Dental Care

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the availability of NHSiS dental treatment in rural areas and regions where levels of dental health are below the Scottish average.

Susan Deacon: Steps taken include:

  Scottish Dental Access Initiative grants to encourage practitioners to set up or expand NHS practices in areas of unmet patient demand or high oral health need, including rural areas and the most deprived areas where dental health is generally poor;

  approval of salaried dentist posts in areas where island health boards or Primary Care NHS Trusts have indicated that there are difficulties with NHS dental provision or oral health needs;

  a scheme whereby fees may be paid to dentists travelling to rural areas for loss of remunerative time spent on travel and to compensate the dentist where visits are cancelled at short notice; and

  the early years enhanced capitation scheme to encourage dentists to register and provide preventive advice and treatment to 0-2- and 3- to 5-year-olds, with payment on a sliding scale depending on the level of deprivation.

  My officials are also developing a scheme in collaboration with the British Dental Association for dentists to register and fissure seal the molars of those 6- to 8-year-old patients most at risk of decay and problems of NHS dental access are being examined by the Implementation Support Group for the Action Plan for Dental Services in Scotland.

Drug Misuse

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to produce a Communities Against Drugs toolkit for Scotland similar to that produced by the Crime Reduction Unit.

Iain Gray: The Home Office Crime Reduction Unit toolkit on drug-related crime is one of a series of 22 designed to help all those involved in crime reduction and community safety to work as effectively as possible. The Home Office has agreed to make these toolkits and other crime prevention and community safety materials available to the Scottish Executive and they will be adapted and developed for use by Community Safety Partnerships and other practitioners in Scotland later this year.

Education

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people completed higher or further education courses in 1997 and how many started such courses in 2000.

Ms Wendy Alexander: There were 52,175 graduates and diplomates from higher education courses in Scotland in 1996-97. Information is not available on the numbers completing further education courses in Scotland.

  The latest year for which data on entrants is available is 1999-2000. In that year there were 133,061 entrants to higher education courses in Scotland. 353,136 were classed as being in their first year of a further education course.

Education

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which consultants or other external agencies have been employed by it, under contract to it, or have otherwise worked for it in the field of education during this scholastic year.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which consultants or other external agencies have been employed by it, under contract to it, or have otherwise worked for it in the field of education in the last three months.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which consultants or other external agencies are currently employed by it, under contract to it, or are otherwise working for it in the field of education.

Mr Jack McConnell: The available information is given in the table. All those listed have either been employed by, under contract to, or have otherwise worked for, the Scottish Executive in the field of education during all or part of the period 1 August 2000, which has been taken as the beginning of the scholastic year, to 31 January 2001, the date which has been used as a point in time for collation of the information.

  


Syntegra 
  



McAlpine Associates 
  



Plain English 
  



Pat Reid 
  



Mirage TV Productions 
  



Scottish Council for Research in Education 
  



University of Strathclyde 
  



Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service 
  



University of Stirling 
  



Arthur Andersen 
  



Barkers Advertising 
  



Stewart Jardine Educational Consultancy 
  



Harry Faulkner Educational Consultancy 
  



Ron Taylor Educational Consultancy 
  



Sandra Johnson Educational Consultancy 
  



System 3 
  



National Centre for Social Research 
  



University of Edinburgh 
  



University of Glasgow 
  



Glasgow Caledonian University 
  



Segal Quince Wicksteed Ltd 
  



National Foundation for Educational Research 
  



Social Research TNS 
  



John Lord 
  



MORI 
  



BRMB 
  



Office of National Statistics 
  



Adolos 
  



Canterbury Christ Church University College 
  



Community Learning Scotland 
  



Duncan of Jordanstone 
  



Fyfe Information Technology 
  



Glasgow City Council 
  



Highland Council 
  



Learning and Teaching Scotland 
  



Napier University 
  



North Ayrshire Council 
  



North Lanarkshire Council 
  



Northern College 
  



Science and Plants for Schools 
  



Scottish Community Development Centre 
  



SJ Educational Services 
  



University of Warwick 
  



Young Enterprise Scotland 
  



Scottish Enterprise Glasgow 
  



City of Edinburgh Council 
  



Learning from Experience Trust 
  



Workers Educational Association 
  



Right Track 
  



Workbase Scotland 
  



Glenrothes College 
  



Falkirk College 
  



University of Lancaster 
  



Fife Council 
  



Summerhill Education Centre 
  



Dundee City Council 
  



Paisley Partnership Regeneration Company 
  



John Mitchell 
  



Moray House Institute of Education 
  



Scottish Qualifications Authority 
  



International Centre for Mathematical Sciences 
  



Martin Prowse 
  



Deloitte and Touche 
  



PricewaterhouseCoopers 
  



BBC Scotland 
  



Scottish Schools Equipment Research Centre 
  



Ultralab 
  



Clackmannanshire Council 
  



University of Aberdeen 
  



University of London 
  



George Street Research 
  



MVA Consulting 
  



Blake Stevenson Ltd 
  



Eglinton Management Centre 
  



Advanced Data Services Ltd 
  



Tactica Solutions 
  



Dr Sheila Clarke 
  



Centre for Child and Society 
  



Children in Scotland 
  



Inter-Ed Ltd 
  



Le Francais en Ecosse 
  



Leirsinn 
  



Liberton High School 
  



Mastrick Community Education Centre 
  



Maureen Buist Research 
  



University of St Andrews 
  



University of York 
  



West Lothian Council 
  



Capita Business Services Ltd 
  



Scottish UfI Ltd and Scottish UfI Trust 
  



ENABLE

Employment

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what further progress had been made in attracting jobs to Campbeltown to replace the 160 jobs at the Jaeger factory.

Ms Wendy Alexander: We are making good progress on resolving a number of issues connected with a particular job-creating project. I remain hopeful that an announcement can be made very soon.

Employment

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any sums recovered from Motorola in respect of its Bathgate plant will be ring-fenced for use in relation to workers made redundant and communities damaged by the plant’s closure; if so, how much of the recovered sums will be used for this purpose and, if not, into which budget the recovered sums will go.

Ms Wendy Alexander: On 25 April I announced in the Parliament that the Scottish Executive was setting aside up to £10 million to help fund the Motorola task force’s action plan.

  All recoveries of Regional Selective Assistance are returned to the Executive’s budget, in line with normal procedure.

Energy Efficiency

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what policies and incentives are in place to encourage the development of community combined heat and power plants.

Rhona Brankin: The Executive, like the UK Government, is strongly committed to the development of CHP. Advice and financial support is available for the development and installation of residential CHP. This assistance is available from the Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme and the Energy Saving Trust, whose activities in Scotland are funded by our Scottish Energy Efficiency Office.

  In addition, the UK Government has just announced a UK-wide "Community Energy" programme. This £50 million programme will support the installation of more community heating schemes over the next two years, and the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office will be working to ensure that Scottish projects will benefit.

Energy Efficiency

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to improve the energy efficiency of new commercial and shopping developments.

Lewis Macdonald: I intend to bring forward legislation in autumn this year that will improve the energy efficiency of new buildings. Currently subject to EC scrutiny, the draft legislation, The Building Standards Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2001, will introduce more onerous thermal insulation standards within Part J (Conservation of fuel and power) of the Technical Standards for compliance with the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990.

  Energy efficiency improvements will cover the building fabric of new buildings, air conditioning, mechanical ventilation and lighting.

Enterprise

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what Regional Selective Assistance funding has been provided to companies in the Scottish Borders since October 2000.

Ms Wendy Alexander: In the period 1 October 2000 to 30 April 2001, 10 companies were offered Regional Selective Assistance totalling £4.0 million. This included four companies who were offered Invest for Growth (which is a streamlined version of RSA) amounting to £248,000. The projects attracting these offers involved planned capital investment of £21.5 million by firms in the Scottish Borders and the planned creation and safeguarding there of some 940 jobs.

Enterprise

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the Scottish Enterprise network’s current business client base accessed business support services (a) online and (b) offline in 1999-2000 and 2000-01.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Information about Scottish Enterprise network services is available to all who need it through the Scottish Enterprise Website which was launched in 2000-01. In addition, the Government is committed to the principle of delivering services electronically by 2005. Electronic service delivery is a major strand of the Scottish Enterprise Business Transformation Process and will enable services, including business support services, to be delivered electronically via the web by 2003.

Enterprise

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of Scotland’s businesses accessed Scottish Enterprise network services in 1999-2000 and 2000-01.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Businesses can access Scottish Enterprise network services in a number of ways. In 1999-2000 Scottish Enterprise delivered 22,190 "projects" with companies in Scotland on a one-to-one basis. Figures for 2000-01 will be made available in the next Scottish Enterprise Annual Report.

  Many more businesses access Scottish Enterprise network services through other avenues, ranging from general publicity (by leaflets, brochures etc.) to seminars and conferences and web-enabled access. The numbers of businesses accessing services through these avenues is not quantified.

Enterprise

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why output in the Scottish service sector in the four quarters to the third quarter of 2000, as reported in Lloyds TSB Business Monitor Issue 13-Winter 2001, grew by less than half the United Kingdom average and what steps are being taken to ensure Scotland’s service sector grows by at least the UK average.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The following table gives a breakdown of official Scottish and UK GDP growth rates in the four quarters to 2000 Q3, compared with the preceding four quarters, for the published sectors within services.

  Scottish & UK 4 quarter on 4 quarter GDP growth rates to 2000 Q31

  


 


Scotland 
  

UK 
  



Total Services 
  

1.6 
  

3.4 
  



Retail & Wholesale 
  

5.1 
  

2.5 
  



Hotels & Catering 
  

-1.0 
  

-1.6 
  



Transport, Storage & Distribution 
  

-2.6 
  

8.0 
  



Financial Services 
  

5.3 
  

2.6 
  



Real Estate & Business Services 
  

2.4 
  

4.2 
  



Public Administration, Education & Health 
  

1.5 
  

1.3 
  



Other Services 
  

1.2 
  

3.3 
  



  Sources: Scottish Executive, Office for National Statistics.

  Notes:

  1. The data for Scotland were published on 7 February 2001. Revised estimates were published on 2 May 2001.

  The Way Forward: Framework for Economic Development in Scotland, published last June, describes the Scottish Executive’s approach to improving the performance of the Scottish economy, including the service sector. This has been supplemented by the enterprise strategy set out earlier this year in A Smart, Successful Scotland, which emphasises the central issues for economic success: growing businesses; ensuring Scotland is globally connected, and lifelong learning and skills development.

Environment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any quantities of toxic waste have been accepted into Scotland from (a) England, (b) France and (c) elsewhere in the last 20 years and, if so, when and what amounts were involved.

Rhona Brankin: This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.

Environment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to conduct an inquiry into the illegal dumping of toxic waste in Scotland similar to the inquiry that is currently being conducted by the Environment Agency for England and Wales.

Rhona Brankin: No. The enforcement of the controls covering the movement and disposal of toxic wastes, including investigations into illegal dumping of such wastes, is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Environment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many illegal imports of toxic waste have been stopped from entering Scotland since July 1999.

Rhona Brankin: This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.

Environment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions of companies or individuals illegally using Scotland to dump toxic waste there have been since July 1999.

Rhona Brankin: This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.

Environment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many warnings from Interpol and from other international agencies it or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency have received about the smuggling or illegal dumping of toxic waste since July 1999.

Rhona Brankin: The Executive has not received any such warnings from international agencies. Information on any warnings which may have been received by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is not held centrally.

Environment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what checks are carried out, by whom and where to identify the content of imported cargo that may contain toxic waste.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is the enforcing authority for the regulations governing the import and export of waste to and from Scotland. The nature and frequency of the enquiries it makes and of the monitoring which it carries out is a matter for the agency.

Environment

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what income from the monitoring of imported cargo has been received by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in each of the last five years.

Rhona Brankin: This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.

Environment

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take in response to the statement in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s recent State of the Environment Soil Quality Report that the principal threat to soil quality and the long-term use of soils comes from agricultural practices, acid deposition and the application of organic waste to land.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s report is an important contribution to the debate on what needs to be done to address the question of protection for Scotland’s soil resource. The report will be considered along with a scoping study on the requirement for a soil protection strategy which we have commissioned from the University of Stirling. The results from this study are expected in early summer.

Environment

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the powers available to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in the area of soil protection are adequate and whether it will consider devising a soil protection strategy and integrating existing legislation in order to increase the powers available to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in this area.

Rhona Brankin: The need for legislation to protect soils and the adequacy of current powers exercised by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will be kept under review. Any decisions on this will await the outcome of a scoping study which we have commissioned from the University of Stirling on the requirement for a soil protection strategy in Scotland.

European Union

Ms Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek a meeting with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary to examine any implications for Scotland of Chancellor Schroeder’s recent proposals regarding changes in the governance of the European Union.

Mr Jack McConnell: We maintain extremely close contact with the UK Government on all EU issues of significance to Scotland, including the current debate on the future of Europe. These arrangements are underpinned by the Memorandum of Understanding and over-arching Concordat on the co-ordination of EU policy issues.

Film Industry

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what actions it is taking to encourage the shooting and production in Scotland of major film projects.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive provides funding for Scottish Screen. Scottish Screen, together with local film commissions, promotes Scottish film locations and talent. Scottish Screen, as the National Lottery distributor for film production in Scotland, can also assist with film finance. In co-operation with Dumfries and Galloway Council and Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway, it has agreed additional finance to enable "Magdalene" to be filmed in Dumfries this summer. Other feature films being produced in Scotland this year include "Morvern Callar".

Fisheries

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set out its latest strategic position with regards to sea fisheries matters.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Executive recognises the importance of strategic thinking in order to secure a long-term, sustainable future for the Scottish fishing industry. I launched, this week, a Strategic Framework for the Scottish Sea Fishing Industry . This document, which places sustainable fish stocks at its core, will be used to frame Executive decisions.

Food Safety

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what restrictions there are on the sale of sweetbreads from calves, lambs or bullocks.

Malcolm Chisholm: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that the sale of the thymus, commonly known as sweetbread, is dictated by EU BSE controls legislation. The thymus is considered Specified Risk Material (SRM) in all cattle aged over six months and cannot be sold. Thymus is not considered SRM in sheep. The pancreas (sometimes known as "gut sweetbread") from calves, lambs and bullocks is not considered SRM and can therefore be freely sold.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what support is being given to the forestry industry in the light of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Rhona Brankin: We have been anxious to avoid disruption to supplies of timber for the processing industry, and so we have made provision for the fast-tracking of felling permissions where necessary.

  In addition, if forest businesses can show adverse effects of foot-and-mouth disease, they can apply to the relevant authorities for any of the means of hardship relief put in place by the Scottish Executive and complemented by the UK Government. These include rates relief, advice from the LECs and sympathetic treatment for deferment of income tax, VAT and National Insurance Contributions by Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise.

  The Scottish Executive has established a Foot-and-Mouth Disease Impact Assessment Group to assess the nature and scale of the outbreak’s impact across all areas and sectors. The Forestry Commission and the industry are feeding information into this group which is informing the work of the Ministerial Group on foot-and-mouth disease, set up to co-ordinate the Executive’s response. The group is currently considering ways of assisting long-term recovery.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14258 by Angus MacKay on 17 April 2001, which persons or bodies were consulted in the formulation of the guidance to be issued to local authorities on hardship relief, on what date the guidance will be issued and whether it will place a copy of the guidance in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Angus MacKay: COSLA and the Scottish Assessors’ Association were consulted in the preparation of the guidance to local authorities on hardship relief, which was issued on 10 April. A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 12527).

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14552 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 10 April 2001 regarding the emergency package for businesses affected by foot-and-mouth disease, (a) when the £3.5 million will be allocated, (b) how it will be allocated, (c) how businesses will access this funding, (d) how businesses will access the 75% funding of the costs of hardship relief and (e) whether any publicity material is being circulated to inform businesses of this funding and, if so, by what means and in which areas.

Angus MacKay: Businesses should apply to their local authority for hardship relief from rates. The additional funding of hardship relief in the 17 local authority areas will be provided through a redetermination of Revenue Support Grant in the Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2002. The scheme is not cash limited and local authorities will need to make claims for this grant to the Scottish Executive by 30 September 2001, giving details of the rate relief given.

  Guidance has been issued to local authorities and copied to business representative organisations in Scotland. It is also available on the Executive’s website www.scotland.gov.uk/agri/footandmouth under "publications".

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive on which farms stock has been slaughtered in Dumfries and Galloway as part of the pre-emptive foot and mouth cull as of 19 April 2001 on the basis that they were contiguous with infected premises.

Ross Finnie: By 19 April 2001, stock had been slaughtered on 542 farms in Dumfries and Galloway that were contiguous with infected premises. A further 119 contiguous premises had stock slaughtered between 19 and 24 April.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive on which farms stock has been slaughtered in Dumfries and Galloway as part of the pre-emptive foot and mouth cull as of 19 April 2001 on the basis of dangerous contacts with farms which were infected or suspected to be infected.

Ross Finnie: By 24 April 2001, stock had been slaughtered on 160 farms in Dumfries and Galloway which had been classified as "dangerous contacts".

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14523 by Ross Finnie on 10 April 2001, what steps are being taken to deal with odour emanating from the Birkshaw Forest burial site.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive has appointed specialist consultants to advise upon the environmental issues raised by the site at Birkshaw. They have identified two principal sources of the odour and measures are now in place to remove these. Essentially, this involves the removal and disposal of large volumes of effluent from the site and the covering of the exposed carcases. We anticipate that this will greatly reduce any nuisance which odours are creating for surrounding residents.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14523 by Ross Finnie on 10 April 2001, what assessment has been made of the current and future public health impact of the Birkshaw Forest burial site.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive is working with health and environmental health officials of Dumfries & Galloway Council as well as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to ensure that public and environmental health considerations are taken fully into account in the operation of the site at Birkshaw. Although odours from the site are an undoubted local nuisance at present, no concerns in relation to the health of people living in the vicinity of the site have been identified.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14523 by Ross Finnie on 10 April 2001, what the ownership arrangements of the burial site at Birkshaw Forest are and who will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the site.

Ross Finnie: The ownership agreement for the Birkshaw site is still being finalised. The ongoing maintenance of the site will be a key provision of that agreement.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14523 by Ross Finnie on 10 April 2001, what discussions it had with public and environmental health officials prior to the establishment of the burial site at Birkshaw Forest.

Ross Finnie: The decision to utilise the site at Birkshaw as a burial site was taken in consultation with senior officials of Dumfries & Galloway Council, which has responsibility for public and environmental health locally, and with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Council officials continue to work closely with the Scottish Executive to ensure that any impact on residents and the local environment is minimised.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what public health impact assessment has been made in respect of the mass carcasE burning sites which have been established at Hoddam and Eastriggs as part of the pre-emptive foot-and-mouth disease culling exercise.

Ross Finnie: The public health impact of the fires necessary for the disposal of certain culled animals has been considered by government health departments and I would refer the member to the parliamentary announcement made on 25 April. Preliminary assessments in relation to off-farm burn sites in Scotland have ensured that the siting and size of fires as well as the nature of the combustibles used has minimised the impact on the surrounding area.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the liquid effluent from the Birkshaw Farm burial site for pre-emptively culled stock is to be removed and how and where it is to be disposed of.

Ross Finnie: The liquid is pre-treated on site in sealed containers to minimise any potential risk of spreading the FMD virus. It is then transported in sealed tankers for disposal at licensed waste management facilities.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) sheep and (b) cattle slaughtered as part of the pre-emptive cull had been disposed of by rendering as at 25 April 2001.

Ross Finnie: As at 2 May 2001, the number of cattle disposed of by rendering amounted to 12,506. All sheep have been buried.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any evidence of the transmission of foot-and-mouth disease into the wild deer population in the south of Scotland and, if so, what the evidence is and how any such spread of foot-and-mouth disease is being tackled.

Ross Finnie: There is no evidence of transmission of foot-and-mouth disease into the wild deer population in the south of Scotland.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether sheep are being transported from the north east of Scotland through areas infected with foot-and-mouth disease on the journey to licensed slaughter in North Wales.

Ross Finnie: The movement of healthy sheep and other foot-and-mouth disease susceptible animals to slaughter through Infected Areas by trunk road or motorway is permitted on the grounds that the risk of infection is considered to be low. Some consignments of sheep, I understand have gone to Wales.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had since the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak with Her Majesty’s Government regarding the regulations controlling the importation of meat and meat products and whether greater control will be put on visitors bringing meat and meat products into Scotland in the light of the outbreak.

Ross Finnie: We are aware of the speculation that our present FMD outbreak originated from meat products brought into the UK from abroad.

  The Scottish Executive is participating in the interdepartmental discussions which are examining our existing procedures for the inspection and control of meat and meat products and detection of illegal imports. These discussions cover both the commercial import of products and the import of products by individuals for their own use, and their aim is to improve controls where possible and to establish effective communication by the various enforcement agencies.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will respond to the proposals set out in the recovery plan presented to the First Minister by the Dumfries and Galloway Partnership on 18 April 2001.

Ross Finnie: The First Minister is writing today to the Convenor of Dumfries and Galloway Council, setting out the Executive’s interim response to the recovery plan. This interim response reiterates the Executive’s commitment to doing what it can to assist Dumfries and Galloway recover from the impact of the foot and mouth outbreak. It confirms that the special needs of Dumfries and Galloway will be recognised in the delivery of policy and in the allocation of resources.

  The Dumfries and Galloway recovery plan includes short, medium and long-term recovery measures. It is important that the recovery in Dumfries and Galloway is taken forward in the context of national recovery strategies. The Executive has already begun to plan for medium- and longer-term recovery across Scotland, and our approach at the local and national levels will be driven by our commitment to the development of thriving rural communities and a competitive rural economy.

  However, we recognise that there remains a need for further short-term relief measures to help those in Dumfries and Galloway worst affected by the outbreak. The interim response therefore acknowledges Dumfries and Galloway’s special needs, and sets out a further package of measures offering both short-term hardship relief and assistance to help businesses begin to move towards recovery, which will benefit Dumfries and Galloway:

  A payment to Dumfries and Galloway Council of £2 million "on account" to pay for costs incurred in controlling the disease;

  Additional funds of £5 million, out of Scottish Enterprise’s existing budget, to be allocated to Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway to assist economic restructuring;

  A commitment from VisitScotland to meet the ATB and other industry representatives in Dumfries today, in advance of their formal board meeting. They will discuss additional support requirements;

  Develop with the farming community small-scale capital investment measures designed to provide environmental and landscape benefits, which also offer work to farm employees and local contractors;

  Sympathetic consideration of applications from Dumfries and Galloway under European Structural Funds and other schemes; and

  Appointment of a Woodland Development Adviser in South West Scotland to advise on how woodland development might assist farmers and other land managers recover from the effects of foot-and-mouth disease.

  In addition to these short-term measures, the Executive is also already engaged in dialogue with Dumfries and Galloway to develop many of the medium- and longer-term measures contained in the recovery plan, with a view to providing a fuller response in the coming months.

Forestry

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the conclusions were of the quinquennial review of the Forest Enterprise executive agency.

Rhona Brankin: The first stage of the review of Forest Enterprise has concluded that the agency has put in a strong performance on the sustainability of its forest management, has successfully involved communities and other stakeholders in its decision-taking and has responded successfully to change – particularly devolution. The review has recommended that Forest Enterprise should retain its status as an executive agency of the Forestry Commission. Ministers in the Scottish Executive, the UK Government and the National Assembly for Wales have accepted these conclusions and recommendations. They intend to review the options for further decentralising the handling of forestry policy and management, in the light of continuing experience of the devolved structure. The report of the first stage of the review is available on the Forestry Commission’s website ( www.forestry.gov.uk ).

Health

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the implementation of Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change .

Susan Deacon: A significant programme of work is ongoing to implement Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change .

  Actions taken to date include:

  Maternity Services Framework - published 2 February 2001

  Appointment of Chairs to NHS Boards under way

  Nursing Strategy - published 2 March 2001

  Review of PH Nursing function- published 12 March 2001

  £18.5 million investment in major expansion of PMS services across Scotland to support the employment of up to 50 GPs and 50 more nurses, particularly in deprived and rural areas

  Health board allocations, linked to new Accountability and Performance Management process being developed

  Continued implementation of new Arbuthnott funding formula to provide a better, fairer share of NHS resources across Scotland.

  Six national guidelines for NHS Scotland published in January 2001, produced by NHS staff for NHS staff, on key areas such as bullying and harassment and family friendly employment practices.

Health

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it proposes to take to make students over 19 eligible for free dental treatment and eye tests.

Susan Deacon: Students in full-time education aged 18 and under are entitled to free NHS dental treatment and NHS sight tests. Apart from the existing circumstances set out below, there are no current plans to raise the age threshold for free dental treatment and sight tests.

  Those students aged 19 and over who are on low incomes may be entitled to full or partial remission of NHS charges under the NHS Low Income Scheme. Help under the scheme is income-related and based on an assessment of each claimant’s ability to pay in light of their financial circumstances.

  A number of students are eligible for free NHS sight tests on other grounds, for example those who are diagnosed diabetics or glaucoma sufferers or wear glasses with at least one complex lens.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many errors in patient care it estimates are made by staff in the NHSiS each year and how many of these prove to be fatal.

Susan Deacon: NHSScotland has a rightly deserved reputation for the quality of its clinical care exemplified by the World Health Organisation promoting SIGN Guidelines to other countries as of "global quality". Inevitably errors occur in any process and local Clinical Governance arrangements exist to ensure that these are investigated and lessons implemented to ensure no re-occurrence. In addition, as part of our modernisation programme we are seeking to establish a more open culture in which errors or service failures wherever they occur are reported, analysed and lessons identified and action to prevent any repetition taken across Scotland.

Health

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to recognise sports medicine as a speciality and treat it accordingly in terms of funding, training and qualifications.

Susan Deacon: Matters affecting the regulation of the medical profession, including the definition, recognition and training of medical specialties are matters reserved to a UK and European level under the relevant Directives.

Health

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate for the Chief Executive of Greater Glasgow Health Board to remain in post until September 2001 now that he has tendered his resignation.

Susan Deacon: This is a matter for Greater Glasgow Health Board as employer. It is, however, a normal expectation that NHS staff work their notice period. The continued employment of the current Chief Executive until the end of September provides for an element of management continuity while the board recruits a replacement.

Hospitals

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many "Campaign for a new Victoria" postcards the Minister for Health and Community Care has received to date.

Susan Deacon: As at 27 April, the Executive has received around 910 postcards from members of the public campaigning for a new Victoria Infirmary. The department continues to ask Greater Glasgow Health Board to consider these, since public consultation on the review of acute services is primarily a matter for the board.

Hospitals

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the planned national surveillance system for monitoring hospital-acquired infection will allow the number of deaths caused by such infections to be estimated.

Susan Deacon: The main objectives of the proposed HAI surveillance system, which is the subject of work by a sub-group of the Scottish Executive’s Advisory Group on Infection, are to gather and present systematic information about a range of hospital-acquired infections so that our understanding of the factors which contribute to these infections can be increased and more effective control action taken. Such action will contribute to reduced length of stay, more effective treatment, and improved health for patients moving through hospital. There are no plans at present to gather further information on the relationship between HAI and mortality: HAI is not recognised as a certifiable cause of death; there can be considerable clinical uncertainties about the degree to which an infection contributes to death, and there can also be uncertainty about the source of infections which cause or contribute to death, especially in very ill patients with a number of concurrent conditions.

Hospitals

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13550 by Susan Deacon on 17 April 2001, whether it is aware that the National Audit Office for England’s report of February 2000 on hospital-acquired infections (HAI) was able to estimate the number of deaths caused by HAI within the NHS in England and whether it will examine how a similar figure for the NHSiS could be estimated.

Susan Deacon: I am of course aware that the National Audit Office’s report The Management and Control of Hospital Acquired Infection in Acute NHS Trusts in England gave an estimate of the numbers of deaths which it believed were attributable to hospital-acquired infections in England.

  There are considerable difficulties about estimating the number of deaths caused by HAI: hospital-acquired infection is not recognised as a certifiable cause of death; there can be considerable clinical uncertainties about the degree to which any one infection contributes to death, and there can also be uncertainty about the source of infections which cause or contribute to death, especially where prior to death very ill patients have suffered from a number of concurrent conditions.

  A number of actions are already being taken across NHSScotland, and more are planned, to increase surveillance of HAI, to establish further standards on infection control and to review compliance with these standards. These measures will help improve the ability of the NHS to counter infection, and thus to reduce the health impact of HAI.

Hospitals

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12178 by Susan Deacon on 6 March 2001, how the figure of £21.6 million as the estimated annual cost of hospital-acquired infection to the NHSiS was calculated.

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12178 by Susan Deacon on 6 March 2001, how the figure of £3.9 million as the estimated cost of avoidable hospital-acquired infection to the NHSiS was calculated.

Susan Deacon: The estimates referred to were prepared by a Scottish Office Health Department working group which reported in May 1999. Copies of the report, Hospital Acquired Infection – A Framework for a National System of Surveillance for the NHS in Scotland are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. Information about cost estimates is provided in paragraphs 30-41.

Justice

Mr Lloyd Quinan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures of support and guidance are in place after release from prison for those wrongly convicted of an offence.

Mr Jim Wallace: Local authorities have a duty to provide advice, guidance and assistance on request within 12 months of a person’s release from custody. This includes those released following an appeal against conviction and/or sentence.

  Any person who considers that he or she has been wrongly convicted of an offence can apply to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. The Commission was established to consider cases where it is alleged that a miscarriage of justice has occurred and to refer appropriate cases to the High Court for determination. Cases may be referred by the Commission whether the applicant is in prison or has been released.

  Compensation will be paid in cases where a conviction is quashed as a result of a new or newly discovered fact.

Meat Industry

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of fluctuations over the last six weeks in (a) pork, (b) lamb and (c) beef prices paid to farmers and in prices charged by leading supermarket chains.

Ross Finnie: The closure of livestock markets since the commencement of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak has disrupted the Meat and Livestock Commission’s normal collection of information on liveweight prices paid to producers. However deadweight prices are provided in table A. Supermarket prices are not routinely collected but average retail prices calculated from figures supplied by the MLC covering various beef, lamb and pork products are given in table B.

  Table A

  Pence per kg deadweight

  


Week Ending 
  

Cattle (Scotland) 
  

Sheep (GB) 
  

Pigs (GB) 
  



17/03/01 
  

172.34 
  

190 
  

102.52 
  



24/03/01 
  

170.55 
  

193.3 
  

98.83 
  



31/03/01 
  

170.23 
  

192.8 
  

94.17 
  



07/04/01 
  

170.23 
  

201.5 
  

94.83 
  



14/04/01 
  

172.44 
  

219.5 
  

94.83 
  



21/04/01 
  

174.16 
  

227.7 
  

95.54 
  



  Table B

  Average Retail Prices (pence per kg)

  


Week Ending 
  

Beef (Scotland) 
  

Lamb (Scotland) 
  

Pork (Scotland) 
  



17/03/01 
  

918 
  

866 
  

503 
  



24/03/01 
  

916 
  

850 
  

502 
  



31/03/01 
  

913 
  

861 
  

502 
  



07/04/01 
  

913 
  

857 
  

506 
  



14/04/01 
  

915 
  

857 
  

508 
  



21/04/01 
  

915 
  

838 
  

503

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many mental health patients are hospitalised each year and what the average cost is of such hospitalisation.

Susan Deacon: During financial year ending March 2000, 26,522 patients received inpatient hospital care in mental illness specialties in Scotland. Some of these patients will have received more than one episode of care throughout this period.

  Costs for the provision of inpatient health care in mental illness (general psychiatry) services are published annually in the Scottish Health Service Costs publication. The treatment of patients in mental illness specialties varies and is a combination of long-stay and short-stay patients. For this reason, costs are not shown per patient but as a cost based on the number of inpatient beds occupied per week.

  The average cost per inpatient week of mental health care was £917 for the year ending March 2000 (page 28, Scottish Health Service Costs - 2000). These data are published on Scottish Health on the Web (SHOW) at:

  http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/Scottish_Health_Statistics/subject/Costs/2000/costs2000.pdf

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much the prescribing of psychiatric drugs has cost each health board in each year since 1997.

Susan Deacon: Information relating to the calendar years 1997, 1998 and 1999 is given in the table "Drugs Most Commonly Used for Mental Health Problems" published by the Common Services Agency, a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 13286). The data refers only to drugs dispensed in the community and does not take into account drugs dispensed by hospital or hospital-based clinics, details of which are not held centrally.

  Mental health problems vary widely in nature and severity and not all require the services of psychiatric or specialist mental health services. It is therefore not possible to group drugs into the category of psychiatric. The data is, however, based on British National Formulary chapters and sub-sections dealing with Hypnotics & Anxiolytics, drugs used in psychoses and related disorders, antidepressant drugs, drugs for dementia and antimuscarnic drugs used in parkinsonism and related orders as these concern drugs most commonly prescribed for mental health problems.

Mental Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many mental health patients in each health board area are currently being prescribed psychiatric drugs.

Susan Deacon: The information requested is not held centrally.

Modernising Government

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the Modernising Government Fund has benefited Aberdeen.

Angus MacKay: Aberdeen City Council has received £2 million from the Modernising Government Fund - the maximum grant payable under the scheme.

  The funding will help support the AccordLink project, and in particular the Accord Card, which will provide citizens with a smartcard (a citizens’ service card) which simplifies access to council services. The aim is to reduce administration and improve the responsiveness and convenience of these services for the consumer.

  The Accord Card has already been successfully piloted in two Aberdeen schools, delivering:

  cashless catering, i.e. children do not have to carry money;

  anonymity of free school meals provision, i.e. removing any stigma attached to free meals;

  healthy eating reward "points" for children who choose healthy meals;

  access to library, sports and leisure facilities.

  Two further significant developments from the project during this year will be the issue of the card to all school pupils and, subject to commercial agreement, the facility of paying for all Aberdeen City bus journeys with the card.

  This is a pioneering project and the aim is to ensure that other councils in Scotland benefit from Aberdeen’s experience and the support they have received.

Research

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the First Minister what plans the Scottish Executive has to enhance Scotland’s research and development base.

Henry McLeish: The Executive’s detailed plans to enhance Scotland’s research base are set out in Working together for Scotland, The Framework for Economic Development , A Smart, Successful Scotland and the Report of the Knowledge Economy Cross-cutting Initiative . The first comprehensive Science Strategy for Scotland will be published later this year.

  As announced in November 2000, over the three-year period from April 2001 the Executive will increase funding for higher education institutions in Scotland by 14%. This will help address three key challenges:

  maintaining and enhancing the excellence of our research base;

  maximising the economic benefits of publicly funded science; and

  making it much easier for companies to access and use our research base in order to increase levels of research and development spending in Scottish companies, which currently lag well behind UK and international benchmarks.

  Further, we have committed £18 million over the next three years to the Proof of Concept Fund, administered by Scottish Enterprise.

  In addition, research matters will be a major element of the planned Higher Education Review. That work will be informed both by advice from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and by the outputs of the Inquiry currently being undertaken by the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee.

Roads

Mr John Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the successful tender for the trunk road management and maintenance contract in the Highlands.

Sarah Boyack: The result of the competition was announced in my reply to Des McNulty on 23 January (question S1W-12726). I subsequently announced my intention to award the contract in the answer to question S1W-13044 on 2 February.

Scottish Executive Expenditure

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail, for each of the past three months, what its expenditure was on advertising, promotion and public awareness campaigns, and what the nature and purpose were of each of these campaigns.

Mr Tom McCabe: The information requested is as follows:

  


Campaigns Run Between January-March 2001 
  



Campaign 
  

Spend (£) 
  



Alcohol Abuse 
  

49,636 
  



Domestic Abuse 
  

216,009 
  



Fire Safety Supplement 
  

125,987 
  



Historic Scotland 
  

319,800 
  



NHS Fraud Campaign and Supplements 
  

121,942 
  



NHS Helpline 
  

33,823 
  



Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency- Fisheries Exhibition 
  

£ 725 
  



Students Awards Agency Scotland 
  

8,962 
  



Road Safety 
  



Fool Speed 
  

345,210 
  



Children’s Traffic Club 
  

118,969 
  



Back Seat Driver 
  

66,643 
  



Christmas Drink Driving 
  

8,000 
  



SRSC Website 
  

3,327 
  



Total 
  

1,419,033 
  



  All of the above were public information campaigns.

Scottish Executive Expenditure

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail what its expenditure was on advertising and promotion during each of the last three financial years, how much of this was for promotion and advertising conducted in-house and how much was for promotion and advertising done by external agencies on its behalf.

Mr Tom McCabe: The figures requested are as follows:

  


1998-99 
  



Campaign 
  

Spend (£) 
  



Children’s Panels 
  

112,300 
  



Daily Record Health Supplement (NHS White Paper) 
  

77,000 
  



Democratising Scotland 
  

248,500 
  



Domestic Violence 
  

630,700 
  



Electoral Registration 
  

41,000 
  



Fire Prevention 
  

225,000 
  



Food Safety 
  

21,150 
  



Fostering 
  

97,400 
  



Further Education 
  

70,000 
  



Historic Scotland External 
  

835,000 
  



Historic Scotland Internal 
  

297,000 
  



Local Government Commission 
  

78,000 
  



Nursing Recruitment 
  

258,300 
  



Pharmacy Point of Dispensing 
  

53,200 
  



Police Graduate Recruitment 
  

9,500 
  



Road Safety 
  

628,600 
  



Scottish Fisheries Protection agency 
  

2,000 
  



Scottish Parliament campaign 
  

1,785,000 
  



Teacher Recruitment 
  

4,200 
  



Total 
  

5,473,850 
  



  


1999-2000 
  



Campaign 
  

Spend (£) 
  



Census 
  

9,993 
  



Child Care 
  

63,843 
  



Children’s Panels 
  

121,623 
  



Domestic Violence 
  

556,573 
  



Electoral Registration 
  

25,787 
  



European Elections 
  

32,029 
  



Fire Prevention 
  

254,590 
  



Food Safety 
  

29,035 
  



Healthy Christmas Campaign 
  

89,649 
  



Historic Scotland External 
  

713,000 
  



Historic Scotland Internal 
  

415,000 
  



NHS Fraud 
  

100,000 
  



Prescription Charges 
  

4,678 
  



Road Safety 
  

868,800 
  



Scotland’s Parliament 
  

547,600 
  



Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency 
  

4,738 
  



Teacher Recruitment 
  

99,680 
  



Tobacco Campaign 
  

10,404 
  



Total 
  

3,947,022 
  



  


2000-01 
  



Campaign 
  

Spend (£) 
  



Alcohol Abuse 
  

471,970 
  



Child Care 
  

132,530 
  



Children’s Panels 
  

123,120 
  



Domestic Abuse Campaign 
  

507,464 
  



Drugs Enforcement Agency 
  

54,695 
  



Fire Safety Supplement 
  

178,967 
  



Flu Campaign 
  

1,076,411 
  



Food Safety 
  

32,480 
  



Fostering Supplement 
  

32,443 
  



Historic Scotland External 
  

738,000 
  



Historic Scotland Internal 
  

831,000 
  



Lead in Water 
  

76,977 
  



NHS Branding 
  

67,258 
  



NHS Fraud 
  

21,942 
  



NHS Helpline 
  

£137,531 
  



NHS Public Appointments 
  

£54,754 
  



Organ Donors 
  

£48,465 
  



Organ Retention 
  

£55,697 
  



Road Safety 
  

£1,261,955 
  



Safer Scotland 
  

£162,825 
  



Scottish Criminal Records 
  

£35,250 
  



Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency 
  

£5,522 
  



Teacher Recruitment 
  

£27,025 
  



Travel Awareness 
  

£318,808 
  



Youth Summit 
  

£9,746 
  



Total 
  

£6,462,836 
  



  The Scottish Executive and most of its agencies do not undertake internal advertising or promotional work but Historic Scotland undertakes such work with its members and this is reflected in the figures.

Scottish Executive Staff

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13058 by Angus MacKay on 25 March 2001, whether it will provide details of the one Scottish Executive post that has been transferred to the specified local authority areas since July 1999.

Angus MacKay: The post is within Historic Scotland and involved the relocation of a Health and Safety Officer from Edinburgh to Stirling.

Tourism

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to investigate changing the name of VisitScotland back to the Scottish Tourist Board.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: No.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of the recent Scottish Enterprise document Survival Toolkit for Tourism Business have been produced, to whom these have been delivered and what the costs of the production and distribution were.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The document Survival Toolkit for Tourism Business was a joint publication between Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. 20,000 copies of the document were produced with 12,000 delivered directly to tourism businesses and 5,200 copies distributed to the LECs, Small Business Gateway offices and ATBs. The remaining 2,800 will be dispatched as required. Total cost for production and delivery was £14,408.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what fee the recruitment agency involved charged VisitScotland for its services in relation to the appointment of Rod Lynch.

Ms Wendy Alexander: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15295 on 8 May 2001.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people visited Scotland for the purpose of studying the English language in each year since 1997 and what the value to the economy of people making such visits was in each of these years.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: The specific information requested is not held centrally. However, VisitScotland does hold data on students visiting Scotland for short-term study, the majority of which is likely to be English language study. The figures are as follows:

  


Year 
  

No of visitors 
  

Spend (£ million) 
  



1997 
  

52,000 
  

51 
  



1998 
  

47,000 
  

37 
  



1999 
  

34,000 
  

28 
  



  Source: International Passenger Survey.

Tuberculosis

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in the 12 to 13 age cohort received BCG vaccinations in 1998, 1999 and 2000 in each health board area and what percentage this figure represents of the school population in this age cohort.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information is as follows:

  


Health Board 
  

Numbers vaccinated 
  



 


1998 
  

1999 
  



Argyll & Clyde 
  

424 
  

599 
  



Ayrshire & Arran* 
  

0 
  

0 
  



Borders 
  

198 
  

157 
  



Dumfries & Galloway 
  

121 
  

192 
  



Fife 
  

3,872 
  

3,340 
  



Forth Valley 
  

405 
  

378 
  



Grampian 
  

674 
  

566 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  

1,123 
  

849 
  



Highland 
  

1,925 
  

1,915 
  



Lanarkshire 
  

906 
  

921 
  



Lothian 
  

231 
  

220 
  



Orkney 
  

1 
  

0 
  



Shetland 
  

6 
  

35 
  



Tayside 
  

443 
  

425 
  



Western Isles 
  

14 
  

25 
  



Scotland 
  

10,343 
  

9,622 
  



  Source: Common Services Agency, Information and Statistics Division.

  *This board targets pupils aged 14; hence the absence of data for the years requested.

  The BCG schools programme was suspended in September 1999. The age at which BCG vaccination has been offered to schoolchildren has varied among health boards. Information about the percentages of target populations vaccinated is not collected centrally.

Tuberculosis

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence of tuberculosis was in each health board area in each of the last three years.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Information and Statistics Division (ISD) of the Common Services Agency has provided the table which sets out the annual numbers of tuberculosis notifications from Scottish health boards for the period 1997-99:

  


Health Board 
  

1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  



Scotland 
  

433 
  

457 
  

496 
  

416* 
  



Argyll & Clyde 
  

43 
  

38 
  

36 
  

 




Ayrshire & Arran 
  

42 
  

23 
  

24 
  

 




Borders 
  

9 
  

7 
  

3 
  

 




Dumfries & Galloway 
  

6 
  

5 
  

6 
  

 




Fife 
  

16 
  

16 
  

12 
  

 




Forth Valley 
  

18 
  

18 
  

17 
  

 




Grampian 
  

22 
  

25 
  

24 
  

 




Greater Glasgow 
  

148 
  

170 
  

192 
  

 




Highland 
  

10 
  

6 
  

9 
  

 




Lanarkshire 
  

38 
  

65 
  

60 
  

 




Lothian 
  

50 
  

54 
  

73 
  

 




Orkney 
  

0 
  

2 
  

0 
  

 




Shetland 
  

1 
  

2 
  

0 
  

 




Tayside 
  

26 
  

24 
  

37 
  

 




Western Isles 
  

4 
  

2 
  

3 
  

 




  *This is a provisional figure for 2000, which may rise as reports to end 2000 are processed.

Waste Management

Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether consideration is given to the environmental impact of disposable nappies in the development of local waste strategies.

Rhona Brankin: The development of local area waste plans by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency involves consideration of the environmental impact of various management options (landfill, recycling, recovery) for municipal waste in order to identify the best practicable environmental option. This process includes an assessment of the proportions of different materials (e.g. plastics, glass, metals and paper) in the waste stream, but it does not involve a specific assessment of individual items such as disposable nappies.